Traditionally, anatomy was one of the basic pillars of medical training. However, due to the expansion of medical science and medical knowledge in general, anatomy teaching has steadily declined and the way anatomy is taught has changed. These changes go hand in hand with growing literature about a perceived and proven lack of anatomical…

To investigate to what extent the use of a three-dimensional (3D) anatomy computer application can improve the acquisition of anatomical knowledge compared with anatomical atlases, junior and advanced medical students participated in an experiment. Participants were asked to answer anatomical questions with the use of a 3D anatomy application…

The Radboud University Medical Center has a problem-based, learner-oriented, horizontally, and vertically integrated medical curriculum. Anatomists and clinicians have noticed students' decreasing anatomical knowledge and the disability to apply knowledge in diagnostic reasoning and problem solving. In a longitudinal cohort, the retention of…

Medical students consider anatomy, neurology, and traumatology as difficult study topics. A recent study showed that the daily quiz "Two Opportunities to Practice per day (TOPday)" positively supported biomedical students in analyzing and solving biomechanical problems. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of…

Spatial ability is an important factor in learning anatomy. Students with high scores on a mental rotation test (MRT) systematically score higher on anatomy examinations. This study aims to investigate if learning anatomy also oppositely improves the MRT-score. Five hundred first year students of medicine ("n" = 242, intervention) and…

Anatomists often use images in assessments and examinations. This study aims to investigate the influence of different types of images on item difficulty and item discrimination in written assessments. A total of 210 of 460 students volunteered for an extra assessment in a gross anatomy course. This assessment contained 39 test items grouped in…

On All Saints Day 2009 a monument for body donors was unveiled by the Department of Anatomy, at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (RUNMC). Although body donation to medical science contributes substantially to the quality of medical education, the ceremony was only the first time that the RUNMC publicly reciprocated the anatomical…

Anatomy education often consists of a combination of lectures and laboratory sessions, the latter frequently including surface anatomy. Studying surface anatomy enables students to elaborate on their knowledge of the cadaver's static anatomy by enabling the visualization of structures, especially those of the musculoskeletal system, move and…

From the early 19th century until the most recent two decades, open-space and satellite museums featuring anatomy and pathology collections (collectively referred to as "medical museums") had leading roles in medical education. However, many factors have caused these roles to diminish dramatically in recent years. Chief among these are…

This article is concerned with the history of the neurological disorder that preceded ADHD: "neurasthenia" or nervousness, conceived of as a functional disease of the nervous system. Around 1900 it appeared on the scene of children's disorders and it disappeared at the time of the pharmacological turn in psychiatry by the late 1960s. In…

Understanding the precursors and early indicators of dyslexia is key to early identification and effective intervention. Now there's a single research volume that brings together the very latest knowledge on the earliest stages of dyslexia and the diverse genetic, neurobiological, and cognitive factors that may contribute to it. Based on findings…

The aim of this study was to establish whether children with a physical disability resulting from central nervous system disorders (CNSd) show a level of arithmetic achievement lower than that of non-CNSd children and whether this is related to poor automaticity of number facts or reduced arithmetic instruction time. Twenty-two children with CNSd…

Innovations in undergraduate medical education, such as integration of disciplines and problem based learning, have given rise to concerns about students' knowledge of anatomy. This article originated from several studies investigating the knowledge of anatomy of students at the eight Dutch medical schools. The studies showed that undergraduate…